Send for Mr Loophole

To the stars he is known as Mr Loophole. To drink-drive campaigners it is probable that his nickname is considerably less light-hearted.

That, however, was not worrying Nick Freeman yesterday as he celebrated his latest success after helping a man escape a drink-drive conviction despite being four and a half times over the limit.

Mr Freeman's client list includes David Beckham, Sir Alex Ferguson, Colin Montgomerie and the husband of the model Claudia Schiffer.

Now he has added Jon Bradshaw, a businessman from Bury, near Manchester, to his list of grateful clients. Mr Bradshaw, 25, was four and a half times over the drink-drive limit when police arrested him in the early hours of April 20.

He was also alleged to have run a red light in his £50,000 Toyota Land Cruiser Amazon.

But he was cleared after Mr Freeman persuaded a district judge that police had failed to prove that he was behind the wheel. Taxpayers will have to pay his legal costs.

Last night road safety campaigners criticised the police errors that preceded Mr Bradshaw's acquittal and the judicial system that allowed such apparent loopholes.

Carole Whittingham, of the Campaign Against Drink Driving, said: "People will use any excuse they can to avoid a conviction and Mr Freeman exploits this. It leaves a sour taste because the message that comes across is: 'If you've enough money you can buy yourself justice by hiring a lawyer good enough to outwit the system'."

Mrs Whittingham, whose son was killed by a drink-driver, acknowledged that Mr Freeman was simply doing his job. But she added: "The majority of people would not be able to have this guy represent them. Given exactly the same situation, you or I would have been pleading guilty.

"Mr Bradshaw should feel ashamed but I doubt that he will. He will probably be very comfortable looking in the mirror tomorrow."

District Judge James Prowse was told at Bury magistrates' court that two policemen saw Mr Bradshaw's vehicle jump a red light. They followed but lost sight of the car. Seconds later they found it smashed into railings. Mr Bradshaw, a partner in an export company, was in the street close to the driver's door.

As he walked from the vehicle he was accidentally hit by the police car and thrown into the air. He was taken to hospital and his blood was analysed. The reading was 359mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood - a quantity that might have been enough to kill him.

Mr Bradshaw was charged with drink-driving and failing to comply with a red light.

But in court police admitted that he was unconscious when the blood sample was taken. Mr Freeman said this proved that he could not have given his consent, as is required by law. The sample could therefore not be used in court.

Mr Freeman also argued that the officers had not seen his client behind the wheel.

After the case Mr Freeman said: "I would be the first to concede that Mr Bradshaw was guilty of consuming a vast quantity of alcohol, but that is not an offence. The fact is there was insufficient evidence to show that he was driving the car and the procedures at hospital were fatally flawed."

Mr Freeman, 48, who has a £3.5 million house near Knutsford and owns an Aston Martin DB9 and a 1951 Jaguar XK120, is used to being unpopular with drink-drive campaigners. "I'm sorry they feel I am public enemy number one," he said recently.

"If they met me they would not feel that way because I am not doing anything wrong. The laws, I argue, have been put in place by our democratically-elected Parliament."